The first ever guide for optimizing boat systems, this guide is invaluable for anyone designing or installing mechanical systems on a new boat, retrofitting an existing boat, or evaluating a boat's operating condition.

Writing for designers, builders, owners, buyers, mechanics, surveyors of sailboats, powerboats, and commercial vessels, Dave Gerr provides design and installation guidance for each major mechanical system plus pragmatic guidelines and real-world interpretations of American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) and European standards. No marine professional or serious boater should be without Boat Mechanical Systems Handbook.

Acclaimed author and naval architect Dave Gerr created this unique system of easy-to-use scantling rules and rules of thumb for calculating the necessary dimensions, or scantlings, of boat hulls, decks, and other parts, whether built of fiberglass, wood, wood/epoxy composite, steel, or aluminum.

In addition to the rules themselves, The Elements
of Boat Strength offers their context: an in-depth, plain-English
discussion of boatbuilding materials, methods, and practices that
will guide you through all aspects of boat construction.

Now you can avoid wading through dense technical engineering
manuals or tackling advanced mathematics. The Elements of Boat
Strength has all the formulas, tables, illustrations, and charts
you need to judge how heavy each piece of your boat should be in order
to last and be safe. With this book, an inexpensive scientific calculator,
and a pad of paper, you'll be able to design and specify all the components
necessary to build a sound, long-lasting, rugged vessel.

What reviewers have said about Dave Gerr's other
books:Propeller Handbook

"By far the best book available on the subject."
- Sailing

"The best layman's guide we've ever read."
- Practical Sailor

"Dave Gerr and International Marine made a complicated topic understandable
and put it into a handbook that is easy to use."
- WoodenBoat

"The best explanation of (propeller) formulas and
theories that I've ever seen-not exactly bedtime reading, mind you,
but propellers don't get any better than this." - The Society
of Boat and Yacht Designers

The Nature of Boats is packed with understandable
explanations of the difference between initial and reserve stability,
of why winged keels do what they do, of how torque and horsepower
work, of traditional vs. high-tech boatbuilding materials, of rudder
control, of speed powered by sails vs. engines, of floatation and
trim, and more.

"A witty and wise romp through boat design
and theory of hulls, their speed, displacement, advantages and faults,
motors, sails, building. Abundant lucid drawings. Great fun."
Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
- Book News, Inc.
(This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this
title)

"It's quite obvious Gerr understands the weaknesses of those of
us afflicted with a passion for boats. Furthermore, he trades on
our insatiable appetite for nautical tidbits. And he does it well.
There's hardly an aspect of yacht design, construction, and operation
that he doesn't touch on in his cheerful, chatty manner." - Sea

"If you are not not nautically obsessed prior to reading this book,
you will most certainly be afterword." - Sailing

"It's sort of a cross between David Macaulay's The Way Things
Work and a volume of Andy Rooney essays. Which means it's fun
and educational at the same time." - Practical Sailor